


after the apex of the world

by orange_creamsicle



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: ...well you'll see, Alternate Universe - Three Houses, Angst, F/F, Post-Canon, i'll add tags as we go because spoilers, i'm not sure if this needs to be marked mature but i will just to be safe, it's only marked major character death because...
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:34:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28071777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orange_creamsicle/pseuds/orange_creamsicle
Summary: It’s finally over. But why is Jihyo’s heart even less at peace?
Relationships: Hirai Momo/Minatozaki Sana, Park Jisoo | Jihyo/Yoo Jeongyeon
Kudos: 4





	after the apex of the world

**Author's Note:**

> This has been stuck in my head for a while now.
> 
> I don't think you really need a lot of fe3h knowledge to read this but please let me know if anything is confusing so I can clarify. For all my fellow Three Houses players, this is post-canon Crimson Flower. That's the only route I've fully completed and I haven't played the game in ages but I have a Blue Lions playthrough waiting for me if I ever come back. TWICE are all based on characters from the game; I won't explicitly say who is who because I think I've made it kinda clear lol. 
> 
> Major spoilers for the route and the game coming super duper soon probably.

Jihyo wakes with a start. 

As her strangled cry echoes unanswered in the darkness, she doesn’t need to look to know that she is hopelessly, endlessly, alone. 

The pale yellow-orange rays of dawn just barely edge over the horizon and Jihyo sighs. Jeongyeon must have gotten up early. 

During the war, it seemed a good rest eluded everyone. There was just too much to be done: too many enemies to watch, too many obstacles to consider, too many battles to fight. Every single member of her exceedingly loyal strike force followed her step by step as she pushed on. There wasn’t time to delay. There was only what was and what needed to be. Victory would bring time enough to sleep. 

But even in the elation of victory, the wheel turns ever on. Ruling wouldn’t be easy under normal circumstances, even less so now as Jihyo is tasked with reviving a Fódlan ravaged by her war. If there was too much to do during the war, there is even more to do now. Every day brings new laws to be considered, new bandits to be eliminated, new trade agreements to be signed, new treaties to be agreed upon. Jeongyeon, ever aware of the stress that is constantly weighing down Jihyo’s shoulders, wordlessly accepts much of the burden. She wakes in the early hours of the morning to pore over new developments or stays awake well into the depths of the night drafting legal documents and speeches. She’s sometimes away all day meeting with the lords of nearby provinces and even travels to other countries in Jihyo’s stead. 

The Emperor of the Adrestian Empire might be deserving of her dedication. Not a frail little girl who is afraid of the whispering shadows in her dreams and exhausted by the burden that every day brings. 

Jihyo rubs her hands down the gooseflesh on her arms, aching for the comfort of Jeongyeon’s warm embrace. Ever since she first confided in her professor all those years ago, the older girl has been quick to pull her from her night terrors, to take a shaking Jihyo in her arms and murmur soft reassurances in her ear. Often it’s just enough to drive away the purposeful pittering of rats’ feet and her siblings’ desperate, guttural, horrible cries. Just before her coronation, when the night terrors were at their worst, it seemed that every night she was rescued from the deep, dark, endless catacombs of memory. 

And yet not even Jeongyeon knows what Jihyo dreams of late. Of a torn blue cape fluttering in the fateful breeze, of red blood staining Aymr’s sharp edge, of eyes that haunt her every waking moment. 

Not even Jeongyeon knows that Jihyo dreams of _her_. 

  
  


It’s a strange feeling, Momo thinks, to not know what to do with your time. 

She has a routine that she follows, however unnecessarily superficial it is. She wakes up with a coffee at sunrise most days. Tends to the garden and the chickens. Goes out for a run or ride in the afternoon. Heads to the market once every few days to restock on food or supplies. Watches the stars every night before falling asleep. 

It’s as close as she’ll get to an ordinary life. 

It’s unnerving. 

Momo remembers that she had a chance at marriage, a window into this life once before she herself took it away and left her family hopeless. 

In another time she might have wondered if she would have been any good at it. At living normally, without cares or worries or bad memories, doing what everyone expected her to do. But those times are long gone. 

Some of them cried at the cruel fate of it all. 

But Momo knows better than most that while fate can be cruel, death is merciless. It has taken more from her in one lifetime than she could ever have dreamed of. And she’s not the only one. 

In the bedroom, Sana stirs and softly whimpers. Momo sets down her coffee and pads silently back to the love of her life, closing the curtains and plunging the room back into darkness.

  
  


“Please tell me that’s the last of them,” Chaeyoung groans as she pulls her lance from the chest of the latest bandit to meet his unfortunate but no less deserved end. They’d been tracking this particularly resilient group for weeks from the ruins of Garreg Mach Monastery to the edge of the Empire. And this was far from their first assignment. 

“Yes ma’am,” Her lieutenant says. “That straggler was it. We found the leader a few miles west, pulled a good bit of gold and armor from him.” 

“Split the gold amongst yourselves,” Chaeyoung says, surveying the clearing before dismounting from her saddle. “We’ll camp here for tonight.” 

She expects that to be enough for her lieutenant, but he just shifts hesitantly. 

“What is it?” 

“We… we just got word. A messenger from the capital. Apparently there’s a slight bandit problem closer to Enbarr that they want us to deal with. Though they said they could also send a detachment of soldiers to deal with it if we’re busy.” 

Another job. What would this be, their fifth in as many months? 

If this was six or seven years ago Chaeyoung would have readily agreed to it, probably even relished the chance to bring more honor to her name and prove herself as one of the best young mercenaries out there. 

But now, as Chaeyoung looks out amongst her band and sees nothing but weary faces, she falters. It has been six months since they’ve even had a decent night’s rest and twice that amount of time since most of them have seen their friends or family. 

Not for the first time, Chaeyoung looks inside herself and feels an unmistakable pang of longing for someone even further beyond her reach than the safe walls of Enbarr. 

“No, we’ve done enough work for a while. The men deserve a break. I’ll tell them to let the army take care of it.” She whips out a quill and a scrap of paper and quickly writes out a brief message. 

As Chaeyoung hands the paper to her lieutenant, she sees him visibly relax in relief. 

For now, at least, it’s over. 

It’s time to go home. 

**Author's Note:**

> Who is Jihyo thinking about? What's up with Momo and Sana? Who is Chaeyoung thinking about? Where are the others? 
> 
> All great questions that we'll be getting the answers to soon(ish) (maybe)
> 
> Any and all comments are greatly appreciated! :)
> 
> twt: @seulgified97


End file.
